The fourth day after entering the dungeon world.
Liu Zheng woke to the sound of heavy breathing.
He opened his eyes to find Bullhorse doing sit-ups.
Given its massive size, the pressure it exerted on the ground was no less than that of a pile driver.
"Big shot, are you worried the foundation isn't solid enough?"
Liu Zheng teased.
"You don't know shit. We're going to Paradise Island soon, I need to work on my core strength."
Bullhorse said.
"What does Paradise Island have to do with core strength?"
"Young man, don't tell me you're still a virgin?"Bullhorse looked at him sideways.
"Hey, why the sudden insult?"
Liu Zheng said discontentedly.
"If you're not a virgin, you should know this. Paradise Island's service standards are even higher than the Black Market's."
Bullhorse said with a look of yearning.
"Aren't you going with your wife?"
Do Bullhorse people play this wild?
"Those beauty and cosmetic shops will keep her busy enough, no time to look for me. Besides, I just tell her I'm going fishing—she loses patience after three minutes at most."
Bullhorse said proudly.
"Pah! Scumbag."
He said disdainfully.
"Hmph, don't blame others for low morals when your own are too high. Besides, compared to other Bullhorses, I'm already a model husband—at least I take my own wife on vacation."
Bullhorse said with conviction.
"Your circle is really messy."
After exchanging a few more casual words, their cabinet chimed.
The staff meal had arrived.
"Hurry, hurry, bring my food now!"
Bullhorse said excitedly.
"Are you really that hungry?"
Liu Zheng took a step back, afraid it might bite him too if it got hungry enough.
"You don't know shit. Every time after helping in the kitchen, they give us good food the next day—better than what they sell outside."
Bullhorse said.
"After offending Napoleon so badly yesterday, will we still get it this time?"
"That old guy may be petty, but he keeps his word. As long as he didn't say it's canceled, we'll definitely get it."
Bullhorse replied.
"Alright then."
Liu Zheng shrugged and retrieved his portion of the staff meal from the cabinet.
When he opened it, he immediately made a disgusted face.
One rat head after another was embedded in the flatbread gazing at the stars, with neatly trimmed circular rat meat slices arranged around the heads.
The chopped rat tails were placed in the center of the pizza, forming a typhoon-like pattern.
"Name: Vampire Rat Family Feast Pizza"
"Type: Item"
"Quality: Fine"
"Effect 1: Restores a large amount of stamina."
"Effect 2: Gain 'Bloodthirst' status, lasting 72 hours."
"Note: The family should stay together neatly."
"Can be taken out of dungeon: Yes"
"Bloodthirst: During status duration, periodically experience strong blood-sucking urges. When blood-sucking urges are not satisfied, all attributes decrease by 10 points; when satisfied, all attributes increase by 10 points. If high-quality blood is consumed, there's a chance to gain additional effects."
"Hey, isn't this that litter of rats you fed?"
Bullhorse said in surprise.
Liu Zheng was startled—upon closer look, it really was them.
The largest rat head inside was exactly that mixed gray-furred rat.
He clearly remembered it had exactly 53 whiskers, two more on the right side than the left.
"Hahaha, I won't fight you for it this time."
"After all, they're poured with your flesh and blood."
Bullhorse said with a suggestive wink.
Liu Zheng looked at the rat meat pizza, his expression shifting uncertainly.
"Of course, if you really don't want to eat it, I can help you out—no need to thank me too much."
Bullhorse said thoughtfully.
He looked at his shriveled tentacles.
"Effect 1: Restores a large amount of stamina."
Going out in this condition was basically asking to die.
"Note: The family should stay together neatly."
Liu Zheng picked up a slice of pizza, closed his eyes, and shoved it into his mouth.
The texture was unexpectedly good—even better than any pizza he'd eaten in real life.
The rat meat had no strange odor either, instead having a Wagyu-like texture.
But just thinking about what they originally looked like made Liu Zheng feel nauseous.
Still, he suppressed his disgust and finished the entire plate of pizza clean.
Soon, Liu Zheng's stomach burned as if on fire.
The scorching pain twisted his facial features.
But even more twisted was his physical body.
Liu Zheng's skin surface rolled as if countless rats were running beneath it, continuously expanding and deforming.
His body size inflated like a balloon during this transformation, becoming even larger than before.
Only during this restructuring, his remaining human skin was completely destroyed, turning into a chitin-like shell.
"After all, they're poured with your flesh and blood, you know."
"Want to look in a mirror?"
Bullhorse asked with malicious amusement.
"No need."
He said calmly.
Bullhorse seemed delighted to see him completely degenerate into something non-human.
It didn't know that he could return to his original form just by clearing the dungeon.
Though the residents of this world were bizarre and powerful, they were still frogs in a well.
And though he was weak, as long as he survived, he had infinite possibilities.
"Hey, what's with that look?"
Bullhorse said irritably.
"Nothing."
Liu Zheng gave it a pitying glance before looking away.
He had already decided to use the sick leave note, but there was some preparation work to do first.
"Big shot, did you save my alcohol?"
He asked.
"First tell me what you meant just now?"
Bullhorse pressed insistently.
"It's reverence, it's admiration, it's the humble awe of an ant facing a towering tree, it's the self-pity of a sparrow facing a phoenix."
"Huh?"
Bullhorse showed a look of genuine confusion.
"You're too awesome, I worship you so much."
Liu Zheng said with a sigh.
"Hmph, at least you have some perception. Here."
Bullhorse dug out three unopened bottles from the alcohol pile and gave them to him.
"Thanks, big shot."
Liu Zheng took the bottles and walked to the doorway to sit down.
Now he just needed to wait for that hand to appear.
After over an hour, the activity panel was finally pushed open.
Ghost Hand quietly crawled in, only to find Liu Zheng staring right at it. For a moment it seemed disoriented, even forgetting to put down the delivery order.
Remembering the rules, Liu Zheng didn't speak, simply placing the three bottles of alcohol before it.
Faced with this situation, Ghost Hand clenched four fingers into a fist, its index finger tapping vaguely in the air as if thinking.
After long consideration, it extended its fingers, and a human mouth grew from its palm.
Then it swallowed all three bottles, glass and all.
Seconds later, a blush spread from the palm throughout the entire hand.
The originally withered, decaying Ghost Hand now looked somewhat revitalized.
It swayed unsteadily as it put down the delivery order, then swayed unsteadily as it crawled out of the break room.
Nothing happened except for the delivery order left on the ground.
"HAHAHA!!!"
Bullhorse burst into laughter again.
"Shocked, aren't you? You thought everyone would play fair like me and that tree. Someone who's always speculating and profiteering finally got their comeuppance."
It laughed so hard its freshly exercised abs started hurting.
"Just three bottles of alcohol, consider it charity. When you're rich, you can be willful."
Though somewhat surprised, Liu Zheng didn't dwell on it.
It was just a casual move anyway—he hadn't really expected to win anything from it.
He picked up the delivery order and looked at the information.
"Item: One portion of Wood Elf Milk"
"Address: West River Center, Building E, Room 403"
"Orderer: Manager Wang"
"Time limit: Within forty minutes"
"Hey, this time it's not a residential area?"
And there was even an orderer named.
Liu Zheng's expression shifted slightly.
This delivery order didn't feel like it would go smoothly.